Dropping sheet-delivery mechanism for printing-presses.



No. 758,997. PATENTED MAY 3, 1904.

R. MIEHLE.

DROPPING SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1901.

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W] TNESSES INVENTOR,

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I No. 759,997. PATENTED MAY 9, 1904.

R. MIEHLE.

DROPPING SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

LEILIOATION FILED JULY 22, 1901. 10 MODEL. I 7 8HEETS-BHEET 2- I INVENTOR.

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No. 758.997. PATE'NTED MAY 3, 1904 R. MIEHLE. DROPPING SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLIOATION IILED JULY 22, 1901.

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NVENTOR ATTORNEYS N0 MODEL.

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No. 758,997. l PATENTED MAY 3, 1904.

M R. MIEHLE. m DROPPING SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1901.

M Man-3k AT okNExs 'PATENTBD MAY 3, 1904.

' R. MIEHLE. I

DROPPING SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22. 1901.

7 SHEETS-BHEET 6.

N0 MODEL.

INVENTOR.

ATTORNE S WITNESSES:

No. 758,997. PATBNTED MAY 3, 1904.

1 R. MIEHLB.

DROPPING SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1901.

WITNESSES IN VENTOR. .7? M @L, B ff w wigm No. 758,997. PATBNTED MAY 3, 1904. R. MIEHLB.

DROPPING SHEET DELIVERY MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 22, 1901. no MODEL. 7 SHEETS-SHEET 7.

WITNESSES I INVENTOR.

I M.M M

lilo. 758,997.

UNTTED STATES Patented May 3, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT MIEHLE, OF )HICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 758,997, dated May 3, 1904.

Application filed July 22, 19 01. $erial No. 69,197. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT MIniILn, a citizen of the United States, residing in (ll'iicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Dropping Sheet-Delivery Mechanism for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the construction of the sheet delivery apparatus for printingpresses, and especially to the class of such apparatus in which the sheets as they are received from the press are carried over the re ceiving-table by means of tapes or aprons and dropped onto the table by the winding up and retreat of the tapes or apron from under the sheets. The invention is an improvement upon previous apparatus of this class, and in .it I employ two sets of tapes winding on springrollers. ()ne of these sets I. call the traveling set because its tapes move or travel longitudinally, the spring take-up roller being stationarily located and the ends of the tapes being drawn from the roller by a moving device. The other set I call the dropping set, as their ends are held stationary, and their roller travels forward while paying out the tapes and baclnvard when rewinding them. The moving device of the first set and the spring-roller ofthe second set move together simultaneously in both directions, so that both sets of tapes are unwound and rewound at the same time. The first set at the time of receiving the sheet is located in a higher plane than the second set, so that it receives the sheet from the press, and this relative position is maintained until the sheet has about reached position over the table on which it is to be dropped, when the relative position of the tapes is reversed, so that the second set then becomes the higher and takes control of the sheet. Both sets of tapes then retreat; but as the sheet now rests on the second set, which is wound up on its traveling roller without moving its tapes longitudinally, no tendency to shift is imparted to the sheet.

The invention consists in the novel devices and in the novel combinations of parts and devices herein shown and described, and. specilied in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the invention, showing the parts in position occupied by them when receiving a sheet from the press. Fig. 2 is a similar View showing the parts in the position occupied at the time of discharging the sheet. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the other side of the apparatus from that given in Figs. 1 and 2. the parts being in the position of Fig. 2. Fig. L is a plan of the apparatus. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view on line 5 5 of Fig. 4, showing the parts in one position; and Fig. 6 is a similar section showing the parts in another position. Fig. 7 is a perspective of a portion of the machine.

In said drawings, 10 10 represent stationary side bars, forming ways for rollers 11 11, supporting a carriage consisting of T-shaped side pieces 12, forming bearings for and connected together by one of the spring tape-rollers 13 and by rock-shafts 1 1 and 15. The carriage is reciprocated by cranks 16'and links 17, the former on rock-shaft 18 receiving power by means of a crank-arm 19. The sheets are carried to the delivery apparatus by tapes 20, supported by rolls 21 on shaft 22 and rolls 23 on shaft 2%. A series of fly-lingers 25 on rock-shaft 26 are arranged between the tapes 20 and may be used instead of the delivery apparatus of this invention, if desired, as explained in my Patent No. 610,491, where similar lingers are fully illustrated and described.

The traveling tapes are indicated at 27, and they are wound on spring-roller 28, which is journaled in stationary bearings at each side of the apparatus supported on brackets 29. The ends of tapes 27 are each secured to holders 30, rigidly mounted. on rock-shaft 15, which journaled in the carriage, as already stated, so that it and the holders travel back and forth with the carriage and draw the tapes from the roller during their forward movements. The holders extend up over the springroller 13, as plainly shown at Figs. 5 and 6, and the tapes receive the sheets from the press, and as they travel during their forward move ment in the direction the sheet is moving when received by them they are adapted to carry it to the point where it should be dropped. The shaft when rocked causes the raising and lowering of the tapes 27 and is controlled in that manner by a toggle composed of members 31 32, the member 31 joined to a crank 33 on shaft 15 and the member 32 to rockshaft 14, which is in turn controlled by the contact of its curved arm 35 with the antifriction-roller 36, mounted on a stud projectin g'from one of the side bars 10. This contact takes place at the conclusion of the retreating movement of the carriage and causes the rocking of shaft 14, the straightening of the toggle, and such a rocking of shaft 15 as carries the holders from the position of Fig. 6 to that of Fig. 5. In the former position the tapes 2'? are depressed and in the latter they are elevated. The tapes 27 now remain elevated so they may receive the sheet from the press, and they remain elevated while they are being drawn from their roller 28 by the forward movement of the carriage, and this enables them to carry the sheet practically into position over the table 37, on whichit is to be dropped. As the sheet nears the droppingpoint the link 17 at one side of the apparatus moves down and encounters a' weight 38 at the end of an arm 39, fast on shaft 14,-and thereby rocks said shaft back to the position of Fig. 6, and in so doing the toggle is bent and causes such a rocking movement of shaft 15 as carries all the tape-holders back to the position of Fig. 6, thereby depressing the tapes 27. The depressed position now assumed by the tapes is retained until on the return movement of the carriage the arm again rides on stud-roller 36 and causes their elevation.

The dropping tapes are shown at 40 and wind upon the traveling roller 13, already mentioned. Their ends are attached to holders 41, mounted on a rock-shaft 42, journaled in' stationary brackets 43. The upper ends of the holders extend up back of the roller 28, and just before the time of dropping the sheet by the winding-up and retreat roller 13 they are elevated above tapes 27, as in Fig. 6, thus raised by devices now to be described.

At 44 is a bent arm in one piece with or attached to a swinging lever 45, pivoted at 46. This lever 45 carries an antifriction-roller at its free end, whichin one position of the lever bears'against the arm 47, rigid on rock-shaft 42. The arm 44 and lever 45 are actuated in one direction by the contact of the arm with shaft 14 when the carriage reaches the end of its back stroke and in the other direction by the contact of the same arm with a stud-roller 48, carried on one of the cranks 16. The lastmentioned contact forces arm 44 and lever 45 from the position of Fig. 5 to that of Fig. 6 and the first-mentioned one returns them to the position of Fig. 5. A stop 49 limits the rocking movement given to shaft 42. 'hen lever 45 is carried against arm 47, it

forces the latter to rock shaft 42 in such direction as to cause the holders to carry the tapes down, as in Fig. 5, and this operation takes place just as the back movement .of the carriage and the rewinding of the tapes ceases. \Vhen the lever 45 is forced away from arm 47, as in Fig. 6, which operation takes place at the end of the forward movement of the carriage and of the unwinding of the tapes, the tension of the tapes 40 causes the rocking of shaft 42 and the movement of the holders from the position of Fig. 5 to that of Fig. 6. This lifts the tapes 40 above the level of tapes 27 and enables the former to take control of the sheet preparatory to dropping it by the rewinding of the tapes 40. Of course during the rewinding the tapes 27 do not interfere with the sheet, as they are also re.- wound at the same speed as tapes 40.

The spring tape-rollers may be of any desired construction, and I have not indicated their construction, except that it is desirable to provide their shafts, which may be either round or square, with thimbles or holders 50 at their ends adapted to be held in any adjustable position, as by set-screws 51, and to provide in the outer ends of the thimbles notches 52, into which a screw-driver may be inserted for the purpose of setting the thimbles, so as to maintain the proper tension of the actuating-springs.

The rock-shaft 14 carries a series of arms 53, upon the free ends of which are flat springs 54. When the sheet is received from the press, these springs check its motion if it is moving faster than the movement given the traveling tapes, and they also serve to deflect the forward edge of the sheet downward, so that the body of the sheet at once settles upon the tapes.

The brackets 43 are sustained from the main side bars 10 by supplemental side bars 56, supported by brackets 29, attached to the bars 10. The method of uniting the supplemental bars and the two brackets is plainly shown at Fig. 7.

From the above description it will be noted that although thewinding-rollers never change their horizontal planes, yet the tapes receive their relative horizontal positions by the action of their respective holders, one set mo"- ing up when the others move down at the conclusion of the forward movement, and that the return to first positions by the tapes takes place at the conclusion of the retreating movement and after the sheet has been dropped.

The ends of the tapes are secured to their respective holders by doubling them around the bolts 60, secured in the holders, and then clamping the doubled ends by means of springclainps 61 and 62, the clamps being adapted to pinch the two thicknesses of the tapes firmly together. One limb of the clamps 61 is extended, as shown at Figs. 5 and 6, in order that they may bridge over the space between the press delivery-tapes 20 and the spring tape-rollers and cover the latter also, so that should the forward edge of the sheet possess any tendency to bend down after leaving tapes 20 it will be deflected upward and prevented from contact with the tapes or their rollers prior to its reaching the position shown at Fig. 5. This feature of the clamps is very useful in the case of clamps 61, and I contemplate also extending the ends of clamps 62, though it is not so essential with those clamps, and the ends need be lengthened only to a slight extent. The extreme points of the extended limbs of both clamps are bent, as plainly shown, to prevent any catching of the sheet by them.

Stops 63 and 64 are desirably employed to limit the swing of lever 415.

1 claim 1. The combination with the winding and unwinding tapes of a sheet-delivery apparatus, of holders for the free ends of the tapes adapted to be raised and lowered, and means for actuating said holders, substantially as specified.

2. The sheet-delivery apparatus, consisting of two sets of tapes, one set being atraveling set and the other a dropping set, and the former being higher than the latter while receiving and carrying the sheet, holders for the free ends of both sets adapted to be raised and lowered to reverse the relative heights of the sets, and means for actuating said holders,substantially as specified.

3. The combination with the tapes and their holders, of spring-clamps for securing the vices 61 acting to support the sheet while passing from the tapes 20 to the a1: paratus,substantially as specified.

6. The combination with mechanism for conducting the sheet from the cylinder, of sheetdelivery apparatus receiving the sheet from said mechanism and delivering it to the receiving-table, said apparatus being provided with clamps having projecting devices entering under the sheet before it passes from said mechanism and supporting it while it moves onto the sheet-delivery apparatus, substantially as specified.

7. The sheet-delivery apparatus having projecting devices entering under the sheet as it approaches the apparatus, and supporting it as it moves onto the same, and a rock-shaft on which said devices are mounted, substantially as specified.

8. The sheet delivery apparatus having clamps provided with projecting devices entering under the sheet as it approaches the apparatus, and traveling with it in its movement to position over the delivery-table, substantially as specified.

9. The sheet-delivery apparatus having projecting devices entering under the sheet as it approaches the apparatus, and a rock-shaft on which said devices are mounted, said shaft moving with the sheet throughout its travel to position over the receiving-table, substantially as specified.

10. The combination with the tape-rollers 13 and 28, of devices 61 and arock-shaft carrying said devices, said devices spanning the rollers when they are positioned to receive the sheet, substantially as specified.

11. The combination in sheet-delivery apparatus, of a traveling tape-roller 13, and a stationary roller 28, of projecting devices 61, and a rocleshaft supporting said devices, both shaft and devices traveling with roller 13, substantially as specified.

ROBERT MIEHLE.

Witnesses H. M. MUNDAY, Enw. S. EVARTS. 

